To Hemo Port

How many countries were there in the Shinobi World? Probably no one knew for sure.

Unless they dragged the late Hagoromo Otsutsuki back from the edge of the Pure Land and had him update the list of countries in the Shinobi World.

The Five Great Nations occupied the four cardinal directions and the center, with countless medium-, small-, and micro-sized countries scattered between them.

The better-known ones included the Land of Rain, Land of Grass, Land of Hot Water, Land of Waterfalls, and Land of Bears.

These were all relatively powerful countries with independent Ninja Villages of their own.

With a Ninja Village, a small country gained the ambition to become the Sixth Great Nation, much like how A San dreamed of joining the UN every year in his previous life.

The Land of Waterfalls had once been powerful enough to receive a Tailed Beast of its own, Seven-Tails Chōmei. But after Lord Kakuzu came through and farmed experience from top to bottom, it settled down. Now it relied on its geographical advantage to hole up in a corner, occasionally venturing out to grab a few benefits.

The Land of Rain produced the demigod Hanzō of the Salamander, who tried to claim the position of Sixth Great Nation by invading neighboring countries. He started the Second Shinobi World War, then got beaten up by Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Konoha working together.

Now it had settled down too, and was begging to be left alone.

Some countries had fairly large territories but no Ninja Village, such as the Land of Rivers, Land of Rice, and Land of Demons. They handed all their commissioned missions to the surrounding great nations.

Together with the Five Great Nations, these countries made up the Shinobi World as it stood. Since the One Country One Village system was established, the successive Shinobi World Wars had been brutal, but they had not changed the countries' territorial boundaries.

What most people didn't know was that countless tiny countries were wedged between these great nations, such as the Land of Pupils, Land of Claws, Land of Fangs, and Land of Vegetables. Some of them might have had no more territory than a single city.

Such small countries were constantly established and destroyed, without anyone caring.

When famous shinobi in the Shinobi World, like Sasori of the Red Sands, often claimed they had destroyed an entire country by themselves, they were usually talking about places like these.

It sounded impressive, but it was nothing special. Plenty of people in the Five Great Shinobi Villages could do it.

The great nations bullied the small countries, and the small countries bullied even smaller ones. The smallest had no one left to bully, so they could only take it—or amuse themselves by bullying their own people.

Of all the countries, the Land of Fire, where Konoha was located, wasn't the largest, but it had the best natural conditions. Most of its territory was covered in dense forests, and its resources were abundant.

It had favorable rainfall and temperatures, fertile soil, and ideal conditions for agriculture. Its commerce was also thriving, and its economy was prosperous.

No wonder it was the first to get hit in every war. It looked like a rich man—who else were they going to hit?

Was the Shinobi World vast? For ordinary people, yes.

But to shinobi, it wasn't that big. One of Madara Uchiha's famous boasts was: "The Shinobi World is too small. There's not enough room for me to do as I please."

In the forests of the Land of Fire, four figures leaped from tree to tree, moving at high speed. Their feet tapped against the trunks with faint pattering sounds.

This was how shinobi traveled: fast and efficient, letting them ignore even the most difficult terrain.

Shinobi couldn't fly through the air like martial artists in old tales. Their leaps came from bursts of Chakra, so their landings inevitably made some noise. The stronger a shinobi was, and the better they controlled their Chakra and body, the less noise they made.

But one of the four figures clearly stood out from his companions. He moved like a gust of wind, graceful and dashing yet incredibly fast. His feet barely made a sound when they touched down.

That distinctive style was, of course, Higashino Makoto's.

Wind Release Chakra had the properties of lightness and flow. To fulfill his dream of flying, Higashino Makoto had spent years working hard to master this Nature Transformation, relying on the exceptional Chakra control he had gained through the transformation brought about by Natural Energy.

He had divided the technique into three stages.

The first stage was Wind Style: Light Air Technique. By drawing on Wind Release Chakra's light and flowing properties, he could move faster and make as little sound as possible.

The second stage was Wind Style: Levitation Technique. It let him remain suspended in the air for a short time and perform all sorts of evasive maneuvers, catching his enemies off guard.

It also counted as a first step toward realizing his dream of flight. He could move with hardly any sound at all, like a ghost.

He was currently at this stage. He had used it a few days earlier during his Strength Assessment Battle with Yugao Gekko. He had been suspended in front of Yugao Gekko with nowhere to push off from, and it looked like he was about to be grabbed and disqualified on the spot. But then he had suddenly appeared behind him, nearly turning the tables.

The third stage was Wind Style: Sky Dance Technique. The name naturally came from the world of Dragon Pineapple. At this level, he would be able to fly freely like a bird.

Higashino Makoto also suspected that the third stage would be a kind of Wind Release Chakra Mode, similar to the Lightning Release Chakra Mode used by the Raikage of successive generations.

Yugao Gekko led the group, his face expressionless.

Uzuki Yugao and Gekko Hayate traveled along, watching Higashino Makoto's unusual movements with envy. So cool. They wanted to do that too.

Higashino Makoto naturally hadn't kept anything from his friends, but knowing how to do something was one thing; being able to do it was another. It took talent.

There was a limit to how well an ordinary person could control Chakra.

As a Jonin, Yugao Gekko had secretly tried it himself, only to discover that it was ridiculously difficult. It would take at least ten years to manage even the so-called first stage. His student wasn't human—he was a Chakra monster.

That made sense. If it were easy, shinobi from Sunagakure and Iwagakure would all be flying around in the sky. There'd be no point fighting.

"Pat, pat, pat!"

Yugao Gekko landed at the head of the group. "Let's take a short break here. When traveling outside the village, shinobi should avoid overusing their Chakra, so they'll be able to fight back if they run into danger."

Uzuki Yugao wiped the sweat from her face and nodded. It was her first time traveling at such a high intensity, and she was indeed a little tired.

Gekko Hayate wasn't sweating, but his breathing was somewhat labored. His body seriously held back his abilities. It was a congenital condition, and there was no way to fix it for now.

Only Higashino Makoto seemed completely unaffected, alighting lightly on the ground.

The other three glanced at him and had nothing to say.

Yugao Gekko gave Higashino Makoto a look. The latter sensed the surrounding area, then gave the all-clear.

Yugao Gekko nodded and told the three of them, "This is only a mission to track down and clear out bandits, but we're in the War Period. Large numbers of Rogue Ninja and enemy intelligence teams are moving around the Shinobi World, so we need to be especially careful outside the village. The mission could be upgraded from C-Rank to B-Rank or even higher at any moment."

Uzuki Yugao asked curiously, "There are bandits bold enough to cause trouble in the Land of Fire? Aren't they afraid of dying?"

Yugao Gekko sighed. "They're mostly from the small countries around us. We're in the middle of a war, and Konoha is short on manpower, so they're trying to take advantage of the opportunity to make a quick score."

There was something else he didn't mention: some people in their own country who couldn't make ends meet had turned to banditry, too. After all, the Shinobi World was a twisted place. It looked as if it had entered the age of electricity and technological advancement, but in essence, it was still a feudal system of Daimyo and lords.

Some lords didn't even treat the people under their rule as human beings. Naturally, that drove countless people to become bandits.

It was all a bit too dark. His students were still young; they didn't need to know about it yet.

After resting, the four set off again. They traveled for most of the day and reached a port city called Hemo, on the coast in the southwestern corner of the Land of Fire, by dusk.

It was an important port in the southwest of the Land of Fire. It faced the Land of Rivers to the west, and its sea route through Chayu Bay connected it to the Land of Islands across the water, the Land of Tea and Land of Commerce on the peninsula, and the Land of Wind farther west. It was one of the Land of Fire's important southern seaports.